The present invention relates to operation of a solar thermal system. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and system for operating a solar thermal system including one or more parameters that are validated against one or more parameters from one or more independent sources, although they can also be dependent sources. The one or more independent sources include an operational photovoltaic system, which is coupled to the solar thermal system or is decoupled from the solar thermal system at another geographic location. In alternative embodiments, the sources can include information associated with irradiation from a “clear sky” day or the like. In still alternative embodiments, the one or more sources can be combined with any of the above and the like. Merely, by way of example, the present invention has been applied to a solar thermal module configured on a building structure, but it would be recognized that the invention has a much broader range of applications.
Over the past centuries, the world population of human beings has exploded. Along with the population, demand for resources has also grown explosively. Such resources include raw materials such as wood, iron, and copper and energy, such as fossil fuels, including coal and oil. Industrial countries worldwide project more increases in oil consumption for transportation and heating purposes from developing nations such as China and India. Obviously, our daily lives depend, for the most part, upon oil or other forms of fossil fuel, which are becoming scarce as it becomes depleted.
Along with the depletion of our fossil fuel resources, our planet has experienced a global warming phenomena, known as “global warming,” and brought to our foremost attention by our former Vice President Al Gore. Global warming is known as an increase in an average temperature of the Earth's air near its surface, which is projected to continue at a rapid pace. Warming is believed to be caused by greenhouse cases, which are derived, in part, from use of fossil fuels. The increase in temperature is expected to cause extreme weather conditions and a drastic size reduction of the polar ice caps, which in turn will lead to higher sea levels and an increase in the rate of warming. Ultimately, other effects include mass species extinctions, and possibly other uncertainties that may be detrimental to human beings.
Much if not all of the useful energy found on the Earth comes from our sun. Generally all common plant life on the Earth achieves life using photosynthesis processes from sun light. Fossil fuels such as oil were also developed from biological materials derived from energy associated with the sun. For life on the planet Earth, the sun has been our most important energy source and fuel for modern day solar energy. Solar energy possesses many characteristics that are very desirable! Solar energy is renewable, clean, abundant, and often widespread.
As an example, solar panels have been developed to convert sunlight into energy. As merely an example, solar thermal panels often convert electromagnetic radiation from the sun into thermal energy for heating homes, running certain industrial processes, or driving high grade turbines to generate electricity. As another example, solar photovoltaic panels convert sunlight directly into electricity for a variety of applications. Solar panels are generally composed of an array of solar cells, which are interconnected to each other. The cells are often arranged in series and/or parallel groups of cells in series. Accordingly, solar panels have great potential to benefit our nation, security, and human users. They can even diversify our energy requirements and reduce the world's dependence on oil and other potentially detrimental sources of energy.
Although solar panels have been used successful for certain applications, there are still certain limitations. Solar cells are often costly. Depending upon the geographic region, there are often financial subsidies from governmental entities for purchasing solar panels, which often cannot compete with the direct purchase of electricity from public power companies. Additionally, the panels are often composed of silicon bearing wafer materials. Such wafer materials are often costly and difficult to manufacture efficiently on a large scale. Availability of solar panels is also somewhat scarce. That is, solar panels are often difficult to find and purchase from limited sources of photovoltaic silicon bearing materials. Moreover, conventional solar systems are also difficult to maintain and monitor for operational accuracy. Once a solar system has been installed, there is simply no easy way to monitor the accuracy of energy generation. These and other limitations are described throughout the present specification, and may be described in more detail below.
From the above, it is seen that techniques for improving operation of a solar system are highly desired.